Due Dec 2023 - part 6

[Nclktnntt]

Follow-on from part 5 heading into delivery and motherhood.

@Cindy1802 It will change all the time. Up to 5 weeks mine went down 11 and woke at 2, 4 and 6 before waking up properly around 7:30. At 5 weeks for a week he suddenly woke every hour for food. Same in day. Huge growth spurt (had to move up to 3-6 month clothes!) and started smiling and babbling. Just as quick as started it stopped. Back to previous pattern then moved to down at 10, waking at 3:30 and 6. At 8 weeks all gone to pot again and waking lots more (apart from last night, poor guy had his jabs) but again now sucking his hands, wanting to sit up etc. I imagine you're in that 6ish week leap right now and you'll be much better in a few days but god its hard! I remember crying at 4am because I was so tired worried about how I was going to cope with looking after him while DH at work because I was so tired.

@FlyingHighFlyingLow thanks for that, that's exactly what I needed to hear. My logical brain was telling me that it was just a phase, but my middle of the night exhaustion made me feel like I was the only one and it should be better by now. He woke at 5am for a feed and I got him back down at 5.35, and in walked my toddler at 5.40 who was up for the day. Argh!

He is growing at the speed of light and so alert and has started rolling from front to back (🤯) so I guess all the extra wakes and feeding makes sense.

@Cindy1802
I could have written your comment. EBF and LO (just 8 weeks) still has 4 wakes between 7-7 (roughly 10, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30). We had a couple of nights of only 2 or 3 times, which got my hopes up but last night was back to 4 again. Not sure how to stretch sleep out further. I have a feeling that this is all completely normal (and that others probably have it worse) but it is exhausting! Feeling impatient for longer stretches as my first baby was only waking once or twice by this stage too. Again, no advice, just solidarity. Hang in there!

@EmW102 thanks. Glad it's not just me! I decided to ride the wave and do nothing today (thank god its a nursery day for thr 3 year old, but tomorrow isn't so I need my energy stored 🤣) so enjoying the contact naps on the sofa. Hope you have a better night tonight! X

also shattered today! Not left the house at all.

We had been getting 3/4 hour stretches, but last night was back down to 2 and it’s killed me! She was super squirmy and loud even when she was ‘asleep’ so I don’t even think I was getting the two hours 🥱

She hasn’t even really napped properly today, it feels like a proper write off of a day.

Just wondering if anyone struggling with nights uses a nightlight. Our white noise machine has one but last night we turned it off for the first time (kept the noise on) and it was the longest he has slept so far. Could be a total fluke 😂 But will definitely be trying it again tonight. Might be worth a try for others too?

Not posted in a while but reading some of these makes me feel much better about our sleep situation! I feel like everyone you speak to had 5-6 hour stretches of sleep by 6 weeks which isn’t the case for us, I even spoke to a lady who had a baby I think around 5 weeks old who said he slept from 11-6 every night!
Tbf I think we have been quite lucky and little one has always generally gone 2-3 hour stretches at night with the odd hiccup but has suddenly this week gone 4-5 hours between feeds at night. Only problem is he is poorly at the moment with a chest infection so I am up every half an hour to check he is okay 🙈 fingers crossed we are over the worst now and I can stop worrying so much.
Also I am formula feeding and haven’t had any signs of my period yet (baby’s just over 7 weeks old). Is anyone else formula feeding and had their period yet and if so when did it start for you?
@Charlielechat we haven’t been using a night light but recently got a projector that projects stars onto the walls after finding it calms him down at baby sensory and it turns out although it does calm him down it also keeps him awake rather than sending him to sleep so I suspect it would be the same with a night light.

Hi everyone! How are we all doing?

Those struggling with sleeping stretches - have you tried swaddle bags? One of my clients gave me one and I put our 5 week old in it the other day when he just wouldn't settle... 5 hours straight he slept for during the day. He's generally good on a night.

The swaddle bag has come into its own this weekend - he had his tongue tie released yesterday and it's really helped him stay calm and stay settled - we woke him up last night after 7 hours as he was still sleeping and I didn't want him to go so long without a bottle as he didn't eat amazingly, ok but not his usual amounts. Today he would not go down again (for 2 hours, everytime I tried he'd squirm and wake up) and I popped him in the swaddle bag and tried to put him down once he fell asleep and he didn't even squirm, that was an hour ago now.

The swaddle bag is from the happiest baby but I've also been highly recommended the love to dream swaddle bags so going to buy a couple for night time for him as they're also a sleeping bag.

Hiya @Srs12 I'm formula feeding and 5 weeks and no signs yet.

@Nclktnntt after your post we've just ordered a love to dream swaddle bag thing off indeed! I completely forgot about them but have heard good things also & it really helped my little boy!

We're struggling with bfing here and the hospital suspect a CMPA which is sad as I'm finding it extremely difficult to go dairy free so have been prescribed some milk. Feeling a tad emotional about having to stop breastfeeding but hoping it works. Any tips on bottle feeding? As in how many bottles do you roughly use per day etc? X

@Nclktnntt I swaddle in the old school way just with a cellular blanket, as it helps him go down without too much of a fight, but it doesn't help lengthen the sleep. Did you try a normal swaddle before the swaddle bags and find it more successful?

@Flower35214 i bottle feed and have 6 bottles. I usually sterilise in the morning and late afternoon for night time! 6 has always done us fine. My daughter feeds roughly 6/7 times in 24 hours so could probably get away with sterilising once but I wouldn’t like to leave myself short if she is looking for an extra feed.

my daughter got her 8 week immunisation today. Oh my!!!! She was fussy before, today she’s been off the scale! Won’t be put down, screaming the majority of the day and has hardly fed. I’ve offered her bottles regularly but she’s having none of it, poor soul! Finally got her down now but suspect itl be a long night. Wish us luck.

Hi @Cindy1802 - I didn't try normal swaddle as I don't know how to do it properly that way.

@Flower35214 I'm sorry to hear that and it's totally understandable how you're feeling about it. I've only formula fed and we have 10 bottles on the go- 2 were free and I brought 2 packs that had 4 smaller and 4 larger bottles in. I usually have 9 in rotation and 1 that's lives in the Milton for emergencies and I sterilise 4 or 5 at a time, usually morning and evening but when I take the last bottle out the next 4 go in and turn it on.
I would recommend seeing a feeding specialist, if you can, to guide on the best position and what to look out for, on a good and bad feed, our little man frowned a lot when feeding, drank fast and was gulping it down and we thought these were 'normal' that he was concentrating and really hungry - the tongue tie lady who's also a feeding specialist advised that they should be relaxed when feeding, eyebrows and arms, not gulping as they take more air this way.

@Flower35214 I have no advice about bottle feeding but allergies are tough. My eldest has multiple allergies. I was very lucky that I only had to cut dairy out for around 8 weeks while feeding him as he didn’t react through breastmilk. There are loads of great dairy free alternatives though it does take a while to get your head around it. Apart from cheese (there are no good alternatives 🤢). I’ve heard the dairy free formula is pretty horrid too. Would be a good idea to speak to an IBCLC you’ll have to be careful stopping breastfeeding too quickly as you’ll be high risk of getting mastitis. Also expect your hormones to be a bit all over the place and you can get a bit down and sad when you stop feeding too. Good luck.

Thanks for all the advice guys! I think I've got myself sorted, feeling a little bit better about it now, if it'll help her then I really don't mind. Will take some getting used to packing the bags with bottles etc but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I have a thermos flask and some bottles to store cool boiled water.

How is everyone feeling/doing?

Having a bad week here. Thought we’d cracked breastfeeding and was finding it super easy.

Got mastitis last week, been on antibiotics, and now my nipples are killing me. One is bleeding and LO had spit up with blood in. Called 111, told to go to a and e and it was just from my poor nipple :(

Not having a good time!

@Flower35214 when out and about we have the tommee tipper rapid cool flask and a thermos flask (brought a proper one separately as the tommee tippe thermos was rubbish). We use the tommee tippee thermos to check the water temp and mix the formula before transferring it to the rapid cook flask. Takes 5 mins max to make a bottle up for LO when out and about. Rinse the flasks out and they'll be ready by the next feed. Our thermos keep the water hot enough for around 12 hours, so we actually do all our feeds this way - even in the house as it's easy, quick and just there.

When you make a bottle up, you can keep it at room temp for 2 hours before it's no good and needs throwing, the minute baby touches the teat, it's good for an hour, so if they have a break you still have time, just note when it was made or when they started drinking it.

It takes a bit of getting used to but honestly I've not found it a problem apart from if he's having a fussy day and I haven't had chance to wash his bottles up and pop them in the steriliser. But that's why I have an emergency one in the Milton cold water steriliser that I have his dummies and anything I need quick in there.

@Mushroo aww so sorry to hear you're having a crappy week. Hopefully you recover quickly and the sore/bleeding nipple heals quickly too.

Question for anyone who has been breastfeeding. I have been exclusively breastfeeding but read that between 4-6 weeks is an ideal time to introduce a bottle so that babies are happy taking it when needed. Well we tried this and LO will not take a bottle at all. She's now 6 weeks and we have been persevering for the last week and a half one bottle a day. Have tried with just breast milk and formula and have tried different bottles/teats. Anyone had any success or have nay other ideas we can try?

On a plus note the breastfeeding got a lot easier And sleeping is slowly getting there so anyone having the 'fussy' time at the moment they will get though it and fingers crossed it's quick for you.

@GL1987 during our antinatal classes she recommended that if you're breastfeeding and want to introduce a bottle to do it at that stage or from the beginning but if chose to do later 4-6 mark to get someone else to feed them initially - so partner or helper - because they can smell your milk if you do it and they want that over the bottle.

We gave a bottle of expressed milk at 4 weeks ish. We gave dummy earlier so used same bottle make as dummy. Honestly this baby is either full or never been fed so he was gulping it down and got half way through before he even paused and realised something was odd 😅. Opened up his eye, saw it was his dad, then seemed to decide milk was milk and resumed 😂😂😂.

Thanks @Nclktnntt
My first was very much like that @FlyingHighFlyingLow with a bottle too but this one has been more difficult all round!
We think we may have cracked it in the last two day. We found a teat that was supper soft and LO seems to be a bit of a princess and likes her teat warm. If that's what it takes then I guess that's what we do 😅

@GL1987 what teat are you using? Struggling to get our BF baby to go near a bottle, he hates anything but boob!

@Cindy1802 we tried a lot of the ones that are 'designed' to be like the breast but then I remembered I had these tommee tippee kindness bottles (they are blue and pink) that someone had bought for us. They have a really soft silicone teat which is softer than the others we had tried. You can find them on Amazon, just search for tommee tippee kindness bottles and they come up. We have now had 3 successful days with these bottles.
We also put a muslin over dad's shoulder that I have used when breastfeeding so it smells like me, when he feeds LO.

Fingers crossed your LO gets there soon, I know we were so frustrated over the last week or so, its hard when you just want a break.

@GL1987 thank you, I might order some. We tried again with mam bottles today and he screamed the house down! Did you just continue to try everyday? How many days of using these TT bottles did you need before it worked?!